This invention relates to personal flotation devices and, more particularly, to a safety belt which can be inflated for use as a life vest in both a fresh-water and salt-water environment.
As is well known and understood, personal flotation devices (PFDs) are available in a variety of shapes, colors and materials. Typically required for recreation boat use, how many, and what type PFDs are required depends on the number of people on board, the size of the boat, and the kind of boating being done.
As is also known, there presently exist two basic types of PFDsxe2x80x94the inherently buoyant vest of a primarily foam composition, and the fully inflatable type activated by a pulling action which punctures a compressed gas cartridge.
While such devices are typically employed by those on boatsxe2x80x94fishing, canoeing and kayakingxe2x80x94a very large market exists for those who do not go near the water at all, either because they cannot swim or are afraid to go into the water, but who could benefit through the use of some type of personal flotation device.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,321, issued Jan. 19, 1993 and entitled xe2x80x9cSwimmer""s Safety Beltxe2x80x9d describes a substantially hollow belt, worn about the waist, and able to assume the shape of a life preserver in use, while allowing the wearer to swim to safety after entering the water, using whatever swim strokes may be convenient. As is there set forth, a compressed gas cartridge is employed to fill the belt in allowing the life preserver so formed to ride up to the wearer""s arm level.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,512, issued Nov. 29, 1994 and entitled xe2x80x9cInflatable Swimmer""s Safety Beltxe2x80x9d, on the other hand, went further in describing the use of a pair of belts, tethered together, to restrict the life preserver arrangement to rise up to the wearer""s arm level, to hold the wearer vertically in the waterxe2x80x94thereby obviating the possibility of the life preserver moving;over the shoulders and head of the wearer and somehow possibly coming free. With this feature, a life preserver tube was formed of the first belt, tied to the second belt at a length which prevented the tube from slipping over the shoulders and head, even while still allowing the wearer to be able to swim about.
While the safety belts described in these two patents performed quite well from a safety standpoint, the belt described in my further U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,279, issued Dec. 30, 1997 and entitled xe2x80x9cInflatable Swimmer""s Safety Belt, Life Preserver/Life Vestxe2x80x9d went even further. The safety belt there described could be arranged either as a life preserver, to allow the wearer to continue to be able to swim about, or could be further converted to a life vest, in holding unconscious wearers face-up in the waterxe2x80x94or, for use by non-swimmers or children, and for those who could only swim short distances without tiring, while trying to reach shore or to reach a rescue boat. A pair of belts, tethered together, were again used, with the firstxe2x80x94substantially hollow and worn about the waistxe2x80x94being able to be filled with the compressed gas in unfolding and expanding outwardly, and with the second underlying the first on the waist. When the first belt was filled with compressed gas, its length increased to form a horizontal tube riding under the arm pits, in holding the wearer vertically as a life preserver, while allowing the wearer to be able to swim about. Couplings were provided on the first belt for maintaining circular configuration, all the while permitting the tube to be slid over the arms to the shoulders and neck area in continuing to hold the wearer vertically, but this time, as a life vest, keeping the head of the wearer out of the water. As with my U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,512, the tether of this construction prevented the tube from coming loose from the second, or waist, belt and floating away.
My U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,562, issued Mar. 14, 2000 and entitled xe2x80x9c2-Step Swimmer""s Safety Belt Inflatabale Into A Life Preserver And A Life Vestxe2x80x9d then took these inventions one more step. In particular, it utilized the first, inflatable belt to again inflate to a life preserver upon actuating the compressed gas cartridge, which was then to be fitted over the arms to the shoulders and neck area in forming a life vest when being donned. A xe2x80x9cdrawstrapxe2x80x9d was used, instead of the previously employed tether, to keep the life vest snugly attached and secured to the second jacket belt. As there set forth, besides simplifying the manner by which the safety belt was put on and adjusted, the arrangement resulted in a streamlining of the construction, to the extent that the safety belt, before inflating, could readily be worn either in the front or back, automatically and immediately inflating to the life preserver position once the compressed gas was released, without the wearer having to do anything else.
As described in this, my most recently issued patent, an exceedingly comfortable, lightweight, smooth, personal flotation device-resulted, which could be worn simply as a belt, in front or in back, whether in or out of the water, and for hours on end. With an appearance not very much different from that of an ordinary belt securing one""s clothing at the waist, a lanyard could be further included, to be simply pulled in puncturing the compressed gas cartridge. When so done, the safety belt automatically inflated the tube as a life preserver, and one whose positioning about the arms, shoulders, head and neck as a life vest could be tightened by simple adjustment of the drawstrap which coupled the tube to the waist belt for maximum stability.
As will become clear from the following description, the safety belt of this invention again inflates upon actuating the compressed gas cartridge but is one which automatically inflates to a life vest directly in front of the user, without any need to convert first from a life preserver position, as in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,702,279 and 6,036,562 arrangements. Instead of a pair of belts being employed, a folded, inflatable cell will be seen to be packed inside the waist belt as a jacket to inflate as the life vest, and which is then pulled over the head and about the neck in being donned. A different xe2x80x9cdrawstrapxe2x80x9d connection is likewise employed to keep everything snugly attached and secured and positioned, leading to a streamlining of the construction in which the safety belt, before inflating, could be worn in the front in a manner far less obtrusive then with a fanny pack which conventionally incorporates a pouch to contain an inflatable vest. Additionally, simpler repacking of the belt for further use will be seen to result, different from the overlapping Z-fold repacking employed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,279 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,562 designs.
As such, it will be appreciated that the 2-step belt of my U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,702,279 and 6,036,562 designs is particularly useful for swimmers who are caught in riptides, or get a cramp while swimming, and need just a quick-rescue flotation ring to get them back to shore. With the present invention on the other hand, it will be seen that it is designed more for boaters, who may be stranded in the water for some time before rescue, or become incapacitated, and therefore need a life vest, rather than a life preserver that will allow them to swim about.
Furthermore, whereas the conventional fannypack with its pouch-containing inflatable vest inflates directly in front of a user""s chest region, it does so in a very rigid manner which allows very little room for vest movement, primarily because of its securement to the waist belt by a very short drawstrap. Such restraint of movement has been noted to create a frequent problem in that when the vest improperly deploys in a reverse or twisted manner, as it occasionally does, the user has been noted to have extreme difficulty in correcting the problem. Also, with the fannypack, with its short drawstrap being concealed beneath the inflated vest, few users have been noted to actually adjust it tight in practice, oftentimes leading to the vest accidentally slipping over the user""s head in such instances as when the user, after deploying the vest, is jumping from a boat. With the safety belt of the present invention, on the other hand, a much freer life vest configuration is presented upon inflation, with a much longer, looser drawstrap to allow clear visibility to the user and a greater latitude in both manipulating the inflated vest and donning it. As will be appreciated then, this aspect of the invention eliminates these problems.
Additionally, where the fannypack vest deploys incorrectly, e.g., in a reverse manner, such reversal presents the further problem of placing the oral inflator tube at the back of the vest, instead of at the front, making it exceedingly difficult for a user to manually fill the vest with wearer""s breath as the vest loses its compressed gas while the user is in the water over any extended time. With the construction of the present invention, to be described, the oral inflator tube can be reached whether or not the user reverses the inflated life vest when placing it over the head and about the neck.
Besides the construction of the present invention allowing for a streamlining of the resultant belt so that it fits so flatly against the abdominal region that it has very little, if any, discernible profilexe2x80x94as contradistinct from that attendant with the conventional fannypackxe2x80x94the construction goes further in allowing for a more correct packing than with the fannypack version. In particular, although the fannypack vest might appear to be correctly packed, at times it has been noted not to inflate when later actuatedxe2x80x94and, because the user has inadvertently packed some of the folded vest material underneath the lanyard arm so that when the lanyard is pulled, that material blocks the puncturing of the compressed gas cartridge; this malfunction being due in part to the location of the gas cartridge actuator inside the fannypack pouch instead of on the outside. With the design of the 1-step belt of this invention, on the other hand, the gas cartridge actuator is located on the outside of the belt in such a manner that there is no folded vest material to obstruct the proper operation of the gas cylinder actuator when the lanyard is pulled, and the self-adhering hook and loop Velcro strips located at the bottom of the construction instead of at the top, pulling-down on the lanyard consistently pulls open the Velcro strips of the waist jacket belt, thereby allowing the folded life vest to freely emerge, deploy and inflate.
Thus, and as will be more specifically described below, the safety belt of this present invention goes that much further from my earlier designs in its utilization of a waist jacket belt preferably containing a folded rectangular, oblong, elongated or oval shaped inflatable cell which, upon actuating the compressed gas cartridge, inflates into a life vest which is then donned by pulling over the head and about the neck. The adjustment of the drawstrap will be appreciated to keep the life vest snugly attached and secured to the jacket belt by a box stitch; for example, to remain buckled around the waist in preventing the inflated life vest from drifting away or otherwise becoming lost to the wearer when in the water.